Grow More Vegetables!

Eat for the Earth welcomes UCSC professor Alexie Leauthaud for a presentation about university based programs that have been working on helping people to grow more vegetables and to boost ultra local food production. She’ll also share videos with you about how to install your own rain tank and to build a rat proof composting system. Se’ll wrap up by talking more broadly about how much food could theoretically be produced locally in Santa Cruz.

We will start our time together with a whole food, plant-based potluck. Please bring a dish to share that is made exclusively from whole plant ingredients and is free of added oil. Please avoid bringing dishes containing meat, dairy, fish, eggs, or other animal-derived ingredients.

Here are some recipe sites for inspiration:

• Forks Over Knives Recipe Collection (Please note that Forks Over Knives now includes some recipes with oil in their collection. Avoid these recipes or leave out the oil.)
• Monkey and Me Recipes
• Center for Nutrition Studies Recipes

If you are new to this way of eating, feel free to bring something simple like a fresh fruit platter or green salad.

Alexie Leauthaud is a professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. In between studying the stars, she is passionate about thinking about how humans can live more sustainability on this one planet. Alexie created a program called "Seed Spoon Science” that works with local community members and their children to install garden beds and grow more vegetables. She has also studied how to irrigate gardens using rain tanks and created user friendly installation videos via a project called Tank 2 Table. She has also been working to develop rat proof composting systems. Together with PhD student Liliana Xochi Hinojoza, Alexie has been studying how to increase the scales of these projects and to help community members grow more food locally.

To learn more about Seed Spoon Science, visit: with videos posted at

To learn more about Tank 2 Table, visit:

Drive towards the back of the parking lot. About halfway down you will see a smaller parking lot towards the left. We are in Sundean Hall, between the side parking lot and the street.

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